The Latest on Workplace Violence Statistics

October 30, 2017

By Andrea Lebron

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Updated 12/4/2018—The latest on workplace violence statistics is that many businesses continue to under-report non-fatal injuries and illnesses. This under-reporting creates a misleading picture of violence in the workplace and - due to not acknowledging the issue - results in businesses failing to adequately protect employees.

In the 2015 edition of “Injury Facts”, the National Safety Council raised concerns that non-fatal injuries and illnesses were being under-reported. The organization cited several Californian investigations that found discrepancies of up to 48% between the number of injuries reported and the number of worker's compensation claims, and a study in Washington State that found 90% of organizations surveyed were not complying with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reporting regulations.

OSHA has also raised concerns with regard to the latest workplace violence statistics. On its page dedicated to violence at work, the organization claims “Nearly 2 million American workers report having been victims of workplace violence each year,” but fears “many more cases go unreported”. OSHA's fears may well be justified. The number of reported non-fatal injuries and illnesses has failed to increase in subsequent years, implying that the practice of under-reporting continues to this day.

Why is Violence at Work Under-reported?

There are various reasons why violence at work is under-reported. The Washington State study mentioned above concluded that businesses fail to report non-fatal injuries and illnesses due to a lack of awareness, a lack of communication and a lack of incentive. Due to the time it takes to complete Survey of Occupational Injury and Illness (SOII) reports, many businesses use whatever data is available at the time rather than implement an accurate data collection and reporting process.

However, around the same time as the National Safety Council was raising its concerns about under-reporting, Carol Fredrickson - a specialist in workplace conflict resolution - published her “7 Reasons Employees Don't Report Workplace Violence”. The list relates exclusively to employee-on-employee violence, but concludes with a point exceptionally pertinent to the latest workplace violence statistics - many employees and employers do not understand how violence at work is defined.

Below are the latest workplace violence statistics broken down by incident demographics, reasons, financial burdens, and a closer look at active shooter statistics in the workplace.

How Violence at Work is Defined

According to the Workplace Violence Research Institute, workplace violence has two definitions. The first, the Institute claims, is one perpetrated by the media in which a disgruntled customer or employee takes a firearm to a place of work and shoots indiscriminately. Although an exaggerated example, this definition may explain why many employees and employers feel violence at work only occurs when an injury is sustained due to a physical attack.

The second definition is one more closely aligned to that provided by OSHA. The Administration's website states: “Workplace violence is any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site. It ranges from threats and verbal abuse to physical assaults and even homicide.” According to the latest workplace violence statistics relating to fatal injuries, workplace homicides increased by 83 cases to 500 in 2016.

The Most Dangerous Profession to Work in is Healthcare

In 2016, the New England Journal of Medicine published a comprehensive review of “Workplace Violence against Health Care Workers in the United States”. The review included data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing healthcare workers are nearly four times as likely to require time away from work as a result of violence as they are because of other types of injury (the most common being back injuries, needle stick injuries, exposure to blood and body fluid, and smoke inhalation).

The review also reported that, although employees in the healthcare and social assistance sectors account for 12.2% of the working population (and despite there being the potential for underreporting in other industries), nearly 75% of workplace assaults occurred in a healthcare setting.

Among other notable facts:

80% of Emergency Medical Services personnel have been attacked by patients.

Homicide is the second leading cause of workplace death for home healthcare workers.

78% of Emergency Department physicians and 100% of Emergency Department nurses have experienced violence from patients within the last year.

The annual incidence of physical assault in a psychiatric setting is 70%.

Among nursing homes with dementia units, 59% of nursing aides reported being assaulted by patients weekly and 16% daily.

46% of nurses reported some form of workplace violence during their five most recent shifts.

Between 2000 and 2011, there were 154 shootings with injury either inside or on the grounds of American hospitals.

It is worth noting that only four of the hospital shootings were included in the FBI's “Active Shooter Study” published in 2018. This is because the majority took place on hospital grounds, while those that took place inside an Emergency Department or on a ward were the result of the shooter removing a firearm from a security guard or law enforcement officer. This is another example of how the latest workplace violence statistics can create a misleading picture of violence in the workplace.

Measures to Prevent Workplace Violence

There are various measures that can be implemented to prevent workplace violence. The first is for employers to understand the OSHA definition of violence at work and implement policies that protect employees from the “threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site”. Should these events occur, the policies must be enforced, sanctions applied, and the incidents included on the SOII reports.

Andrea is Rave's Director of Digital Marketing, a master brainstormer and avid coffee drinker. Andrea joined Rave in August 2017, after 10 years of proposal and corporate marketing at an environmental engineering firm. You'll find her working with her amazing team in writing and producing blogs like this one, improving your journey to and through our website, and serving you up the best email content. When she's not in front of a keyboard, she's chasing after her three daughters or indulging in her husband's latest recipe. Andrea has a Bachelor's degree in Marketing/Management from Northeastern University and an MBA from Curry College.